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'Top Chef' rivals facing off in Delaware

John Tesar and Katsuji Tanabe, two chefs who became arch rivals on the TV series "Top Chef: Charleston, S.C." will meet up again April 30 at the Celebrity Chefs' Brunch at the DuPont Country Club. Will sparks fly? Let's hope so!

Katsuji Tanabe and John Tesar might seem like rivals on “Top Chef,” but Tanabe believes they have similar personalities. Tesar invited Tanabe to come to Meals on Wheels Delaware’s Celebrity Chefs’ Brunch on April 30 at the DuPont Country Club.(Photo: Paul Cheney/Bravo)

One of the best reasons to watch "Top Chef: Charleston, South Carolina" was the bickering between veteran contestants John Tesar and Katsuji Tanabe.

The ego-driven squabbles helped breathe life into the aging yet still popular Bravo reality TV culinary competition show, which concluded its 14th season last month.

Tesar, a reformed hothead, says in recent years he has tried to tamp down the once legendary angry outbursts that earned him the 2011 title "The Most Hated Chef in Dallas." While he's trying to be low-key, what you see on TV is pretty much who Tesar is in real life.

"It's me being a New Yorker not taking any crap from anyone," the 58-year-old seasoned chef, who has opened 21 restaurants in his career, says in a phone interview from his Texas home.

It remains to be seen whether any quarreling will take place when Tesar and Tanabe come to Delaware on April 30 and cook for the Celebrity Chefs' Brunch at the DuPont Country Club in Rockland. But you can count on some top-notch food.

The two are among the scrum of more than 25 chefs, including Food Network star Anne Burrell, who will be at the Meals on Wheels Delaware fundraiser. Tickets, $75 to $125, remain for the party widely considered one of the state's premier culinary events.

Tesar, a Dallas chef for 10 years, came to the open-to-the-public Delaware brunch last year and liked it so much that this year he invited Tanabe, who runs a Los Angeles Kosher-Mexican restaurant.

Apparently, there are no hard feelings between the "Top Chef" contestants. Just the opposite. In fact, they may actually be, um, kind of, sort of friends.

"I said, 'You want me to go to Delaware with you? Really? You and me?'" says Tanabe, a native of Mexico City, Mexico. Tanabe says he has never been to Delaware and had to look on a map to see where it's located.

Once he heard the party was for Meals on Wheels, an organization he heartily endorses, Tanabe says he agreed.

Tesar also extended invitations to Season 14 "Top Chef" rookie contestants Silvia Barban, an Italian chef who works in New York, and lovable Jim Smith, executive chef of the state of Alabama and chairman of the Alabama Seafood Marketing Commission. Barban was knocked off the program for making an Italian potato salad one judge called "slimy." Smith was ousted in this season's seventh episode after his steak tartare was deemed less pleasing than two other contestants.

"We're all attention seekers on TV," Tesar says, laughing. They'll be joining chefs from Oregon, Canada, Colorado, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Illinois and North Carolina as well as nine Delaware chefs.

Tesar, who owns Knife, a contemporary steakhouse on the bottom floor of The Highland Dallas hotel, says he met Regina Dodds, Meals on Wheels Delaware's director of events, on a cruise and "we became chums."

The chef says he enjoys cooking for the well-organized Delaware brunch because "it's not over the top with TV celebrities. It's a nice local event." This year, he plans to serve truffle scrambled eggs with Iberico bacon and rye toast.

This past season of "Top Chef" was about redemption for eight returning contestants like Tesar, who competed on Season 10 in Seattle, and Tanabe, a veteran of its 12th season in Boston.

Longtime fans aren't privy to the machinations of the show, which has received two Emmy Awards since its 2006 start.

Tesar believes his arch-nemesis Tanabe came on "Top Chef: Charleston" with every intention of irritating and trying to start fights and arguments. Tesar says he tried to stay even-keeled and not take any bait although sometimes viewers could see his bite.

Tesar says many contestants, who are first interviewed by a psychologist, read and do research on their fellow competitors. Then, they live together in a house, which he likens to a fishbowl experience swimming with emotions and strategies. There's no TV or cellphone access. The intensity is real.

"I've never cooked under such pressure in my life," Tesar says. Tanabe says the close living arrangements would make anyone irritable.

Show producers, Tesar says, "are great at creating and pitting us against each other" and most contestants have "a game plan going in."

"Katsuji thought if he could take me out, it would make him look good," Tesar says."He's looking for street cred."

"I come from a different culture," he says. "I'm going to push buttons. That means I like you. I was busting their balls. To me, it's very stressful to do 'Top Chef.' I really don't mean no harm."

Katsuji Tanabe often got into arguments with contestants including John Tesar, far right.(Photo: Brianna Stello/Bravo)

Tanabe says his only goal was to come out on top; he was the eighth chef eliminated. "This season was too intense. My goal was win, win, win. I'm going to go 100 percent. I got caught up too much in the game," he says.

Tanabe says, if anything, he and Tesar "are very similar. It's a good thing or it's a bad thing. It's a love-hate relationship." Tanabe then added about Tesar: "He's definitely a little nicer now."

Among its peers, "Top Chef" is considered one of the most respected TV cooking shows – guest judges are the country's best restaurateurs and chefs, beverage professionals and culinary legends. But, in the end, it's still a game show, Tesar says.

At least one contestant has lost sight of that, and it's cost them. Tesar points to Season 14 newcomer Jamie Lynch, a Charlotte, North Carolina, chef who didn't like a dish he made, so he gave up immunity to be judged alongside his teammates. Lynch apparently thought the judges would respect his decision, but the opposite happened: They voted him off.

Fans also thought it was a dumb move. "It worked against him. People were like, 'Dude, don't you know how to play the game,' " Tesar says. "Valor turned into stupidity."

Tesar says some competitors come with an agenda, and he had his own. During his first "Top Chef" experience in 2012, Tesar, who finished ninth, felt like he didn't showcase his abilities – "my cooking wasn't that memorable"– and he was too angry.

Tesar, who once worked in a New York restaurant alongside CNN star Anthony Bourdain, a former chef who is now an author and host of the CNN travel series “Parts Unknown," says that at that time he "felt behind in my career."

Now, he's much happier and was ready to show a change of personality and a more positive attitude as well as emotional growth. He was surprised to be one of the four remaining chefs on the show, which was eventually won by California chef Brooke Williamson.

"I never go onto the show thinking, 'I'm going to win," Tesar says.

Still, he also wanted to tweak a few perceptions. Since he was the oldest competing chef, Tesar says many contestants, like California chef Shirley Chung, the show's runner-up, asked why he was there.

"I think people don't know what to make of it," Tesar says. "And I would say 'because I'm here to beat you, Shirley.' "

He says the best contestants are those who "let their food do the talking." Tesar says the show "does a brilliant job of showing where you are at in your own space. It puts you in a situation where you learn about yourself and you can adjust."

On the “Choke Holds and Clammy Hands” episode of “Top Chef,” contestants Amanda Baumgarten, John Tesar and Katsuji Tanabe listen to what judges have to say about their dishes.(Photo: Paul Cheney/Bravo)

Tesar thinks the editing was fair, but had one complaint: "I think I'm nicer and more giving." He also believes in the camaraderie of chefs. "You don't want to see someone suffer, you want to beat them legitimately."

Tesar was proud of such winning dishes as smoked macaroni and cheese, and cream-poached oysters with truffle butter, hot sauce and shaved truffle. But you won't see those meals on his restaurant menu or his first cookbook, “Knife: Steakhouse Meals at Home” (Flatiron Books and Macmillan). It comes out in May.

Tanabe, whose mother is Mexican and his father Japanese, says he enjoys cooking at charity events and meeting fans. On April 30, he plans on making Kobe beef tongue - "it's an amazing piece of meat" - and will serve it with almond mole and handmade tortillas.

"Everyone thinks mole has chocolate. This one doesn't," he says.

He says being on "Top Chef" was important to him, and his career. He applied 11 times before he became part of the cast.

"I'm a sucker for pain," he jokes by phone from California. "No, I really like competition. It makes you a better chef. The publicity and exposure was priceless."

He hesitates when asked if he would do "Top Chef" again.

"I would have to say no, but then, I would probably do it. It's fun. The power of TV is very, very important. It's impressive. Nowadays, you can't just be a great cook, you're supposed to entertain too. It was so weird. I never looked for fame. But now, it's very nice. But it's also made me more humble."

Food Network star Anne Burrell will be hosting the Meals on Wheels Delaware fundraiser, a walk-around brunch, which features more than 25 recognized local and national chefs, including four contestants from the recent season of the Bravo TV series “Top Chef.” Delaware chefs making dishes this year include Dave Banks of Harry’s Hospitality Group; Hari Cameron of a(MUSE); Pat Bradley of Tonic Bar & Grille; Piccolina Toscana’s Dan Butler; Buckley’s Tavern chef/co-owner Tom Hannum; Eric Huntley of RedFire Grill & Steakhouse; recent James Beard Award semifinalist Dwain Kalup of Domaine Hudson; Jeff Matyger of Capers & Lemons; and Pete McMahon, executive chef of Highway One Group.

WHERE: DuPont Country Club, 1001 Rockland Road, Wilmington.

WHEN: April 30 from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.

COST: Tickets for the brunch are $125 for general admission and $75 for young professionals (ages 40 and younger).